June Project

This is my last project for the 12 month run. I skipped two because of exams, but still made at least 12 projects! My final one is another museum piece, this one from the Walters Art Museum. It has modern links in it, but is done in a Roman style. What is not disclosed is if any of the links are period, or if the entire construction is a reconstruction using period beads and clasp. There ARE other examples of necklaces like this, though, with beads interspersed with loop in loop. I'm going to keep the explanation light because I've already explained loop in loop thoroughly. 

The clasp is a larger than the original cabochon, not an intaglio like the original. 

I soldered the bezel and the decorative wire to the backplate at the same time, but it took two firings to get everything satisfactorily soldered.

There isn't a photo of the back of the original, but this isn't unbelievable. It's also a simple solution. 

Smoky quartz. It was the only stone I could get anywhere near the correct bead shape in. 

And the original:

My beads are smaller, my loop in loop is smaller, and my cab is bigger. Altogether, I've done much better recreations, but since this is a reconstruction itself, I don't mind the more "inspired by" approach. 

Update post

I haven't blogged in a while! I ended up taking April off as I had a professional exam to study for (and I passed!) May's project ended up being a super secret project someone asked me to make (which still isn't done, but I got it 85% of the way there yesterday). I'll post pics once it's gone public. In the meantime, I started June's project today. It'll be the final project for the year. But I got a new book! 

I'm super jazzed about this one. Even though for the life of me, I don't know why the photo will only post sideways. But you can still see it. It's a collection of essays, essentially. But they are organized into chapters with a linear progression. And it is through this book that I've learned that there were at least 5 female goldsmiths in Imperial Rome. This excites me to no end. It's hard to find evidence of female craftspeople, especially outside the fiber arts. The evidence for these comes from funerary inscriptions. It's literally one line in the book, lacking the exact inscription language. I know from other sources that one off the women, Pompeia Helena, was listed as "aurafixer", which translates directly to goldsmith. I also know, from just Googling, that other women were credited as being gold leaf artists. 

This scrap of information is actually making me seriously consider a secondary persona. Not just playing with garb, but doing a deep dive into a goldsmith persona, in a way that I haven't been interested in persona development before. Research and history, yes I've been interested in previously, but applying it to myself and my presentation in the SCA? This is a new interest.

I've always nominally had a 14th century persona, even though it's been ages since I dressed that way. And no matter what, I'm going to keep the name Elizabeth Blackburn. But I'm considering registering a third, Roman name. Just to have, for funsies.